PML-N to oppose media bill, says Javed Latif

ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting Mian Javed Latif Tuesday expressed his resolve to oppose the PTI government’s proposed Media Development Authority Bill (PMDA).

Announcing that the opposition will not let the bill pass through the Standing Committee, he said it was not an issue of media alone but of the whole nation because freedom of expression cannot be banned by just pressing a single button.

He expressed these views at ‘Meet the Press” jointly organised by the National Press Club (NPC) and Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists (RIUJ) here at the NPC on Tuesday. Mian Javed Latif said the PTI government was opposing the 18th Amendment because it had empowered the provinces. “If the government intends to control everything, including media, courts and elections, tragedies like East Pakistan would continue to happen,” he said.

He vowed that the PMLN would ensure protecting all fundamental rights of the public, as it had always believed in the supremacy of the Constitution. “Even we are ready to die for the national cause and issues,” he said. He said the government had double standards in accepting the facts and always portrayed its viewpoint as patriotism and flaws identified by the opposition as treason. He said the problem is not fake news but they want to control everything and if the government is really sincere about legislation, it should take all the stakeholders into confidence.

He said the PTI government is pursuing the policy of divide and rule in all spheres of life, as they have come to fulfil their own agenda. Javed Latif was of the view that martial laws and dictators had not done as much damage as the present government had done to country. “If the government was sincere about improving the media industry by bringing in such a legislation, it should consult all stakeholders before taking any step in that regard,” he said.

General Secretary of the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Nasir Zaidi said the proposed legislation is meant to control the press in the name of fake news. He said at present the media was completely controlled, current affairs programmes were being recorded with bad intention and many anchors had been taken off air.

“We want to tell the rulers that we will not allow enacting any law that curtails media freedom. We will not hesitate to sacrifice our lives for the freedom of the press,” he vowed. Chairman of RIUJ’s Media Action Committee Afzal Butt said a protest would be launched against the proposed legislation during the president’s address to the joint sitting of the Parliament. He asked the government to reinstate the sacked employees, make effective arrangements for payment of dues and salaries to media workers, stop making cuts in wages and violent incidents targeting journalists. NPC President Shakeel Anjum, Secretary Anwar Raza and President of RIUJ Amir Sajjad Syed, General Secretary of RIUJ Tariq Ali Virk were also present.